History and Contributions
The group made several noteworthy contributions throughout its existence, not only to its own subculture, but the entire computing world as well. Most notable was the creation of PMODE by Charles Scheffold (a.k.a. Daredevil) and Thomas Pytel (a.k.a. Tran) in 1993. PMODE was a DOS extender designed to be used in x86 assembly language programs, and was later expanded into PMODE/W, a drop-in replacement for the popular DOS/4GW DOS extender distributed with and used by the Watcom C, C++ and Fortran compilers.
Renaissance was also on the forefront of PC digital music software, having written the first PC-based 8-channel tracker, Composer 669, and the first combined FM+digital music tracker, CDFM. The first 32-channel tracker, MultiTracker, followed in late 1993.
Renaissance had intentions from the start to create games as well. The only well-released game to their credit was Zone 66, a shareware top-down shooter game, published by Epic MegaGames in early 1993. C.C. Catch also composed music for Epic's 1994 robot fighting game, One Must Fall: 2097.
There was much mystery as to Tran's participation in the group. Rumors surfaced at Assembly '93, as he and other members were in attendance to enter a demo but never completed it. Months later, the rumors were confirmed as Tran released his first independent demo, Hell, and announced his departure from Renaissance. He continued releasing PMODE and other demos independently.
Read more about this topic: Renaissance (demogroup)
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“No cause is left but the most ancient of all, the one, in fact, that from the beginning of our history has determined the very existence of politics, the cause of freedom versus tyranny.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)